Tag Archives: internationalization

I am proud to report that our deepening ties with Mexico continue to result in additional support for our students. Yesterday Mexico’s ambassador to the United States presented the College with an $80,000 award to fund scholarships for immigrants and Americans of Mexican origin.

The funds were presented by Ambassador Carlos Manuel Sada Solana during a brief ceremony at the Mexican Consulate in Tucson. It was an honor to meet the ambassador, and the College is grateful he made time in a busy schedule for PCC.

Kudos to Dr. Ricardo Castro-Salazar, Vice President for International Development, and his team at the Center for International Education and Global Engagement for making the meeting happen.

The support for PCC comes from the Institute for Mexicans Abroad (IME), which is part of Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Relations. This is the third grant PCC has received from IME since November 2014, bringing the total for scholarships to $260,000. As Ambassador Sada stated while praising community colleges for preparing students for transfer or employment, “There is no greater legacy than education.”

November has been particularly fruitful for the College’s multifaceted relationship with Mexico. On Nov. 19, a group of 25 college students from Mexico graduated from a four-week PCC program featuring English as a Second Language instruction and cultural enrichment. It was the fourth group we have hosted in the past two years as part of the Proyecta 100,000 program of the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Relations.

As Vice President of Instruction and Transfer Pathways Dr. Gregg Busch told the graduates, learning a foreign language is essential to building relationships and opens a window to new cultures. The College is committed to enhancing bi-national connections that benefit our diverse region.

Written by Ricardo Castro-Salazar, Acting Vice President for International Development, the comprehensive report details the strides the College has made in multiple areas: infusing global knowledge into the curriculum, creating a language institute, developing community and global engagement, developing a study abroad program, identifying opportunities for workforce development in the international arena, providing international and cultural development for employees, and expanding international student outreach, recruitment and services.

The importance of these endeavors to the success of all our students cannot be overstated. As Ricardo writes, it is necessary “to educate our community for interdependence, global citizenship skills, and to bring the world to our students, a world driven by a global economy and challenges that transcend national borders.” Bringing the world to Pima is an ambitious undertaking that will benefit our students, city and region academically, culturally and economically.

I am excited to share Pima’s progress on internationalization. Under the leadership of Dr. Ricardo Castro-Salazar, Acting Vice President for International Development, and the tremendous support of our faculty, staff and community, Pima has laid the groundwork for a revived international program.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that in the 21st century, the world’s political, economic and environmental challenges cannot be solved by one country, and must be met by a multinational, cross-cultural response. I am proud to say that PCC is meeting that challenge, as the information below clearly demonstrates.

Pima Community College International Development

February 17, 2016

We have a Strategic Plan for Internationalization with seven strategic goals and 70 objectives. The plan was the work of a Task Force of 84 people that not only had district-wide representation (faculty, staff and administrators), but also community members, foreign representatives in our community, representatives from the Mayor’s Office, County Government, and students.

Created the American Institute of Language and Culture at Pima (AILAC). Will offer the first ESL package for int’l students in Summer 2016. This will also help our local enrollments

We have worked with the Tucson City Government and the Pima County Administrator to align our int’l objectives for Pima County’s economic development

PCC offers 132 courses with “Global” and “Cultural Diversity” content. Nevertheless, despite the guidelines and recommendations from the HLC, AACC, ACCT, and others, PCC did not have a comprehensive global education plan before Chancellor Lambert.

Francisca James Hernandez has represented the College at the Generation Study Abroad Summit and directs the development of Faculty-Led Study Abroad initiatives.

One of our goals in PCC’s Diversity Plan is to “Increase global diversity and inclusion.” And one of our SLOs across all disciplines is to “appreciate cultural and global diversity” (PCC, Monitoring Report on the Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes to the HLC, 2013).

Growing, modestly, but continually in the midst of an overall College enrollment decline.

Spring 2016: A total of 207 int’l students from 41 countries, compared to 202 in Spring 2015. We have enrolled 37 new F-1 students. Concurrent & Other Visa types declined, but we enrolled more F1s than in Spring 2015.

Fall 2015: A total of 262 int’l students from 34 countries, compared to 246 in Fall 2014. We enrolled 53 new F-1 students. Fall enrollments include 59 J-1s Bécalos Program Participants in 2015 and 48 in 2014.

Summer 2015: A total of 143 int’l students from 38 countries, compared to 96 in Summer 2014. This included 42 J-1 visa holders from 3 educational contracts.

Spring 2015: A total of 202 int’l students, including 25 new F-1 visa holders.

PCC is the only community college designated as a J-1 sponsoring institution in AZ

In Fall 2014, in recognition of PCC’s participation in the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Initiative, the US State Department and the US Embassy in Mexico sponsored J-1 visas for 49 international students attending PCC.

In March 2015, PCC regained federal approval to sponsor J-1 visas. Between the summer and fall 2015, PCC enrolled an additional 98 students on J-1 visas.

International educational contracts have helped local enrollments

A positive multiplying effect on overall enrollments. Classes where int’l students have enrolled have become more cost effective, or even feasible (avoiding cancellations). Furthermore, the classes added to our schedule for our international contracts have given our local students a number of additional options. These classes include: CIS121, CIS162, CIS281, MKT125, MKT139, DAR103, DAR176, TEC123, TEC123 LB, TEC225, TEC225 LB, TEC250, and TEC250LB.

Our ESL Program also has benefitted from our international contracts and our ESL Faculty have received additional teaching contracts for the following courses: ENG260, ESL098T6, ESL098T7, ESL080GR, ESL085GR, LA079EI, and LA089EI.

Restoring our relationship with Mexico has helped our int’l and local enrollments

We have won two grants ($180,000.00) from the Mexican Government and the private organization Together We Can/Juntos Podemos. With these funds, we have provided 149 scholarships to deserving students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. These enrollments are very impactful because they help those who need the most support in our community. Some of our scholarship holders literally could not enroll without these resources.

I was fortunate to be part of spirited discussions at annual professional development events last month, and I thank the 80 exempt and 180 non-exempt employees who attended. At both gatherings, we talked about topics affecting individual campuses and the College as a whole, as well as trends affecting education nationally and globally. The key takeaway, I believe, is the distance between the PCC and the rest of the world is shrinking rapidly, and we need to start thinking globally if we are to successfully compete in the 21st century. [The McKinsey Global Institute has interesting insights on the rapid rebooting of the world’s economy.]

The growth of the middle class in Latin America, Africa and Asia has been well documented. Hundreds of millions of college-age students live in Mexico, India, China and elsewhere. PCC’s internationalization efforts, through the Becalos program and in recent visits to China and Korea, can enhance the global education of our students while fostering the economic and cultural development of the College and the community.

Of course, we also must take care of business at home. As you know, the Higher Learning Commission, the College’s accreditor, has removed PCC from Probation and placed us on Notice, meaning the we are in compliance with the HLC’s Criteria for Accreditation but remain at risk for being out of compliance with the Criteria for Accreditation and Core Components. Refining the College mission and developing a system to assess its fulfillment are among the areas we must address to regain the fullest confidence of our accreditor.

Beyond accreditation, we have a pressing need to rebuild enrollment. In addition, our commitment to student access should be buttressed by a redesign of foundational education that quickly and effectively advances students into credit programs. We can address Pima County’s achievement gap by strengthening transfer pathways to four-year schools and ensuring our programs provide students with skills area employers value. It adds up to a commitment to a great experience for our students, our most important customers and investors.

The work of our employees is crucial to the success of these efforts. Every workday, we can build a culture of accountability at PCC. Everyone can contribute to a workplace that values clarifying questions, contrasting viewpoints and new ideas, expressed in honest, open discussions, and free from fear of retaliation. All of us also have an opportunity to influence public perceptions about the College. “Regular employees” are considered very credible sources of information about a company or organization, according to a 2012 survey of trust in institutions – more credible, I hasten to add, than CEOs of the organization. In talking to family, friends and community members about PCC – whether good or ill — our words matter. It is another example of how the opportunity to help transform PCC into a premier community college starts with our most valuable asset, our employees.